A Deep Dive Into Sin........., Judgement And Grace. Series

A deep dive into Sin, Judgment and Grace.

We started last week's message with a review of the events from creation, up until the birth of Abram who would go onto have his name changed to Abraham, which means The Father of Many. Rochelle and I got home and discussed the message and the amount of information that was covered between Genesis 1 and 12 and Genesis 12 and Genesis 20, Prior to the birth of Isaac the next of the Patriarchs.

As this is a deep dive into scripture, we looked at the things we had covered and decided that it would be prudent, now that’s a quaint old word, prudent, meaning wise, sensible to cover a pattern that occurs and reoccurs in scripture, well in life quite often. Rochelle introduced you to the symbols of Harry Wendt’s, ‘Bibles Big Story’ also last week so I will be using some of his illustrations to tackle what I want to address today.

“In the beginning God created,” are the first five words of our Holy Bible, these sacred scriptures. We talked about this a couple of weeks back and he saw all that he had made, and it was good, beyond that, in Genesis 1:31, records “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was morning – the sixth day.” God’s love was poured out on his creation and there was harmony in the Garden of Eden and with all the living creatures and humanity and with the original Couple Adam and Eve and in their relationship with God their creator. Things were humming along nicely.

What occurred next, time wise we don’t know how long it was before the fall of mankind, from that place of not having eaten from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. To having eaten of the fruit, which resulted in the couple hiding in fear of God as he walked in the Garden in the cool of the evening, because they were naked. So, the original sin, was they had done what God had commanded them not to do. Prior to this time the couple had no understanding of their unclad state. They lived in total innocence. The man’s response to God when asked if he had eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, was to blame God and the woman for his actions. “The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Genesis 3: 12.

How does that compare with Adam’s declaration when God gave him the woman made from his rib in the previous chapter? “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man.” Genesis 2:23. After the fall we see change in the charged emotions of Adam from joy to shame. This was the start of distance between man and God and between males and females. As a result, God’s judgement on the couple occurred, there are always negative outcomes to having sinned. Yip, even if you think you have got away with it. Note: the word sin is derived from a term for having missed the mark, an archery term.

As a result of that original sin, the serpent who played the part of deceiver, was cursed to crawl on his belly and also be loathed by humanity.

The woman was from that time to have increased pains in childbirth, the man was to labour to produce food from the ground to eat and they were both to die physically. Interestingly, it was after this that Adam named his wife Eve as she was to be the mother of all the living.

God’s grace is shown in this situation that while the couple were banished from the Garden of Eden, they were made garments by God, and he clothed them. He literally covered over their shame.

The next of Harry Wendt’s depictions relates to who? Yip, Cain and Abel. The thing with Cain is that he was jealous of Abel’s offering to God and killed his brother. There is a compelling point to note here, regarding God’s grace. It is this; God forewarns Cain just like he informs us of the outcomes of our actions. As Adam and Eve were warned, remember, they knew the consequences of eating from the tree. Cain was warned “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

The human condition is such that even with the heads up on outcomes we tend towards what is destructive to us, that thing called sin. Even when we know the speed limit, the boundaries are sometimes pushed. What looks good and easy can lead to a lifetime of pain. Sin desires to have us! Jesus tells us in John 10:10 we “have an enemy who comes only to steal, kill and destroy.” How many damaged relationships and people have been the result of out-of-control arrows missing the mark, the result of sin?